In this Jan. 12, 2018, file photo, Ana Martinez, a medical assistant at the Sea Mar Community Health Center, gives a patient a flu shot in Seattle. Flu season continues to get worse, as this has become the most intense the country has seen since a pandemic strain hit nine years ago, U.S. health officials said on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Flu cases continue to surge in Arizona, with the outbreak so far this season nearly as bad as during all of the entire 2009-2010 season when there was a global outbreak.

The state Department of Health Services says the 1,454 cases reported the week of Jan. 21-27 raised Arizona's total flu cases so far this season to 19,279.

The total so far this season is dramatically higher than the 2,175 cases reported by the same point last year and about equal with the 19,906 flu cases reported during the entire 2009-2010 H1N1 flu pandemic.

The department says it's not too late to get a flu shot.

People at the highest risk of serious complications from the flu include children young than age 5 and adults 65 or older.

Fact remains, that in early 20th Century, scientists studying vaccine caused illness discovered that vaccines introduce foreign proteins into blood that creates histamine reactions that they called "allergies" or "allergy".
Now you know where a lot of allergies come from.

Aussie flu symptoms: Doctor recommends the best remedy to ease the cough and fever

February 4, 2018

AUSSIE flu is one of of the main strains of the flu virus infecting people across the UK this year. Symptoms have been described as the same as normal flu but more severe, so what is the best form of treatment?

With the UK in the grip of one of the worst flu seasons in recent decades, it's never been more important to take care of your health to avoid catching the virus.

The number of people dying from influenza in England and Wales has reached the highest level since a devastating flu epidemic hit the UK three years ago.

Aussie flu - the H3N2 strain of the influenza virus - is just one of the several strains circulating in the UK at the moment, and symptoms, described as more severe than normal flu, include an aching body, a dry chesty cough and a sudden fever.

Washing your hands regularly and throwing away tissues quickly are some of the best ways of preventing the virus from spreading.

But for those who are unfortunate enough to have got the virus, what's the best way to get rid of it?

I recommend plenty of fluids, rest and ibuprofen or paracetamol, or a combination of the two

Dr Sarah Jarvis said there's no cure - we can't cure viruses - but there are ways to shorten symptoms and make them less severe.

She said: "I recommend plenty of fluids, rest and ibuprofen or paracetamol, or a combination of the two.

"There is some evidence that hot drinks work - partly because they have a placebo effect, but they've also been found to have an effect on your saliva production and the moisturisation of the airwaves.

"Steam, hot showers, hydration and drinking more can also be good - being dehydrated can make you prone to complications."

But when it comes to herbal supplements, Dr Jarvis says there is very limited evidence that these will help you get rid of it.

She added: "There is some evidence that vitamin D will help you get rid of cold and illnesses, possibly flu.

"There is some evidence that if you are an athlete taking a vitamin C supplement may reduce your risk of getting a cold. But for the vast majority of people we just recommend you get vitamin C through diet - so plenty of fruit and veg, fruit juice (one 150ml glass a day)."

When it comes to cough medicines, Dr Jarvis reveals this isn't really something GPs can prescribe.

She said: "The only thing I've been able to prescribe for years is glycerol syrup, which is basically sugar and water.

"Your pharmacist on the other hand has got access to dozens of alternatives and really, if I've got one piece of advice, make the pharmacist your friend.

"If you've really got flu then get someone else to go visit the pharmacist for you and explain your symptoms.

"But if you've got a cough or cold the pharmacist will be able to advise you on things like 'is it for a dry cough' - so for a dry cough you ant something that soothes the airwaves and reduces that temptation to cough.

"If it's a mucus cough, it's very important to know that green mucus does not mean you have a bacterial infection - it does not mean you need antibiotics.

"But if you've got COPD - a chronic lung condition - and you start to produce more mucus you must either take the course of antibiotics or you go see your doctor."

For those looking forward to the end of flu season, Dr Sarah Jarvis says it's likely the virus could stick around until March.

This year the world will mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most devastating infectious disease events in recorded history: the 1918 influenza pandemic, which caused an estimated 50 million to 100 million deaths worldwide.

There were several reasons for the awful toll. First, most people likely had no preexisting immune protection to the brand-new strain that had emerged. Second, this particular virus may have been unusually lethal. Third, crowding and poor sanitation allowed for rampant disease transmission, especially in regions where access to health care was limited. And finally, antiviral drugs and flu vaccines were still decades in the future.

Over the past century we have made substantial advances in all these areas. But we are still unprepared for the inevitable appearance of a virus like the one that struck a century ago. Even an ordinary seasonal flu epidemic will still kill some 12,000 to 56,000 people every year in the U.S. alone. That is because seasonal viruses continually evolve, and although we update our vaccines frequently, they may be only 40 to 60 percent effective. Moreover, seasonal vaccines may provide little or no protection against pandemic flu. Pandemic viruses typically arise from a process referred to as an antigenic shift, in which the new virus acquires, usually from animal influenza viruses, one or more genes that are entirely novel (as seems to have happened in 1918, when all eight pandemic virus genes were novel).

In the years since 1918, three influenza pandemics associated with antigenic shifts occurred: in 1957, 1968 and 2009. In each of these instances, however, the new viruses emerged via the mixing of animal influenza virus genes with those of the 1918-descended viruses already circulating in the human population, which meant that many people were at least partially immune. That, plus lower viral pathogenicity and improvements in public health infrastructure and medical treatment, is what probably led to less catastrophic pandemics.

We must also tackle the issue of "prepandemic" influenza viruses-those that could potentially cause pandemics but that have not (yet) done so. Human infections with avian influenza viruses have occurred with increasing frequency over the past two decades. Prepandemic vaccines against various strains of H5N1 and H7N9 viruses have been developed and in some cases stockpiled; similar to seasonal influenza viruses, however, these avian strains are subject to antigenic drift within their avian hosts. Many of the H7N9 avian viruses that have jumped species from poultry to cause human infections in China in 2016 and 2017 have changed significantly from 2013 avian strains. As a result, the human immune responses elicited by a vaccine developed against the 2013 H7N9 virus may not be effective against 2017 strains.

The remarkable capacity of influenza viruses to undergo antigenic drift or shift to overcome and escape human population immunity leaves us vulnerable to a public health disaster potentially as serious as the 1918 pandemic. To meet this global health challenge, scientists are working to develop "universal influenza vaccines"-new types of inoculations that can provide protection not only against changing seasonal influenza viruses but also against the inevitable pandemic viruses that will emerge in the future.

Recently the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases convened a workshop with leading experts in the influenza field to address the need for better influenza vaccines. Among many obstacles to developing a universal vaccine, the most formidable is our incomplete understanding of the immune responses that protect people against influenza, including the role of immunity at mucosal surfaces.

One approach is to design a vaccine to generate antibody responses to parts of the virus that are common to all influenza strains and do not readily change by mutation. It is also crucial to clarify how other parts of the immune system work together with antibodies to protect against influenza. The hurdles in the development of such vaccines are daunting. But we are optimistic that we can apply existing tools and experimental strategies to meet the challenge. As we note the centennial of the 1918 flu pandemic, let us remind ourselves of the importance of this line of research in preventing a repeat of one of the most disastrous events in the history of global health.

Doctors find promising leads on a replacement for the current annual influenza shots, which vary in their success depending on the strain of virus

As doctors struggle with the worst flu season in nearly a decade, some are racing to answer a question: Can they find a more permanent solution than variably successful annual vaccines?

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have developed a new approach for a vaccine that tested successfully in animals. GlaxoSmithKline is in the early stages of testing another promising approach in people.

Emergency rooms around the U.S. are crowded with flu patients as the country experiences one of the most intense flu seasons in years, according to news reports. But if you do catch the flu, how do you know if you need to go to the ER?

Most patients with the flu will recover on their own without medical care. But in some cases, the flu can be life-threatening, and so it's important to know how to recognize signs of a flu emergency, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).

"Most people with flu typically do not require emergency care, but this season's disease strain is much more active than previous years," Dr. Paul Kivela, president of ACEP, said in a statement. "Public health experts project that tens of thousands of people could suffer flu-related deaths." (Health officials estimate that since 2010, the number of yearly flu deaths in the United States has ranged from 12,000 to 56,000.)

More common, nonemergency symptoms of the flu can include fever and chills, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache or body ache, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea, according to ACEP.

If you develop flu-like symptoms but have a nonemergency illness, you should first seek help from your primary care doctor or an urgent care center, ACEP said. If you go to the ER and you don't actually have the flu, you could catch it from others who have it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Indeed, in a recent viral video, a Florida nurse warned people not to go to the ER if they are healthy or don't have emergency symptoms, because of the risk of catching the flu. "If you don't have what I call a true emergency, this would not be the time to come to the emergency room," Katherine Lockler said in the video.

Other tips to avoid catching the flu this season include washing your hands often, avoiding direct contact with ill people and getting a flu shot, Kivela said." Even though the flu shot is less effective this year, it still can reduce your risk of getting the flu and having serious complications," Kivela said.

People who are at high risk for flu complications include young children, people ages 65 and over, pregnant women and people with chronic conditions, according to the CDC. If people in this "high-risk" group develop flu-like symptoms, the CDC recommends that they should receive treatment with antiviral medications early in the course of their illness. To ask about receiving these treatments, people can contact their health care provider rather than go to the ER if they do not have signs of a flu emergency, the CDC said.

People can also avoid spreading germs by covering their mouth when they cough, washing their hands and staying home from work, school or other activities when they aren't feeling well, Kivela said.